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Following an evaluation process that encompassed almost two years, Michigan Tech selected the Canvas Learning Management System,from Instructure, Inc. It was the clear choice of faculty and student testers, and is very intuitive and easy to use.

A pilot of the Canvas Learning Platform involving Western faculty, students and support staff, provided  strong support for a recommendation that Western transition from Blackboard to Canvas. A summary of  the results of the pilot study as well as options and timelines for the transition are presented in this  report. ATUS will continue to evaluate transition options and present those recommendations by March  30, 2013

"Canvas has drastically improved this process, so you should be able to easily import courses from your existing Blackboard course archive files. [Learn more about finding your course archives.] "

"In Summer 2013, Hinds Community College (as well as the other 14 community colleges in Mississippi) will move to the Canvas platform by Instructure as the new learning management system for the college.  Blackboard will no longer be available after June 1, 2013 to students or faculty.  This website will serve as the communication tool regarding the migration to Canvas.  Please check back often for additional information regarding best practices, timeline for implementation, and training materials. PLEASE BOOKMARK THIS PAGE AND CHECK BACK OFTEN.  Frequent emails will also be sent out regarding updates. "

Many of these are setting anyone can turn on that make the audio and visual easier to see and hear.

The POV series on PBS has been bringing a range of compelling documentaries to curious viewers for years. This recent installment from their talented crew presents the story of undocumented immigrants at a detention center in Geneva, Switzerland. Visitors can watch the entire program here and the website features interviews with the filmmakers, extra conversations with others involved in the production, and a teachers' guide. Interested parties will learn about the situation at Frambois prison and they can also watch a special interview with the film's director, Fernand Melgar. This moving film would be a wonderful addition to a class in human rights, international relations, and any number of related disciplines

There are several widely-accepted rubrics (Quality Matters, the ION one in Illinois, etc.), but in my opinion, they focus on course design, not on teaching the course. When I was at Black Hawk College, we created a Best Practices for Exemplary Online Teaching set of standards based on the Chickering and Gamson's "7 Principles of Good Practice for Undergraduate Education" meta-analysis. Individual best practices for online teaching were pulled from the literature and listed as possibilities under each of the 7 principles, and an 8th was added with some of the course design elements not already mentioned in the first 7. In other words, we created a local document that could assist faculty in doing self-assessment, peer evaluations of each other's courses, and potentially institutional review of online courses. However, our instrument was not used for institutional assessment because it was not approved as part of the faculty [union] contract. It is important for a document like this to be shared with the faculty ahead of time so that they know how their courses are going to be evaluated. I also think it is helpful to have several people evaluate various aspects of online courses, such as someone who is an expert in online education who can evaluate the learning experiences and course design elements of the course, someone from the faculty member's department who can evaluate the quality and accuracy of the course content, as well as the administrator whose job it is to evaluate teaching. If the institution uses a type of rubric or assessment document when evaluating face-to-face teaching, it needs to be vetted by online experts to determine if it emphasizes appropriate, comparable variables in the online environment. For example, if activities to promote student engagement is on that form...what does that look like online? Not all administrators or faculty who have not taught online would know what to look for as indicators of student engagement.

Article outlining policy recommendation for institutions using student data

A course is a sequence of experiences. What are some good learning experiences? (in the abstract)

Learn things for free: Academics, music, Computer sci, ebooks and Language

Classical Music Mash-up is a chance to create your own version of a classical piece of music using our virtual audio mixing board, while learning about orchestration.

Have you ever wanted to look into the shape and structure of a suckermouth armored catfish? Well, the Digital Morphology website makes that possible. Created as part of the National Science Foundation Digital Library at The University of Texas at Austin, this library includes hundreds of 2D and 3D visualizations of the internal and external structure of living and extinct vertebrates, and a number of invertebrates as well. These images are generated by a X-ray CT scanner, which has greater resolution and penetrating power than a conventional medical diagnostic CAT scanner. Visitors can browse the library by scientific name, common name, or the popular What's New? area. The homepage includes eight different overview pages, which provide narrative essays and images of dinosaurs, tapirs, bats, and primates. The site also has a Learn More section which provides additional material on X-ray CT's and the science behind 3D printing

hour video plus learning materials

This itinerary helps visitors learn about the contributions of the many peoples who have played a role in American history whose stories come alive in the units of our National Park System. 

The "publish" button isn't the end of the process. Now it's time to talk to-and learn from-strangers.

SVUSD lead teachers created a series of lessons to use in your first few days of mobile devices teaching. These lessons are designed to assist students with learning the device and build proper classroom management of the devices. 

To experience the world of high quality reporting from North Korea, meditations on the state of journalism, and a wide range of other stories, direct your browser to the Global Journalist website. Originally created for the International Press Institute in 1995, the publication moved to the Missouri School of Journalism in 1999. Today, journalism students work with staff members to produce content for the site and its accompanying radio show, which is broadcast on KBIA, central Missouri's NPR affiliate. With funding provided in part by the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute, the people at the Global Journalist provide users with current and archived radio shows on the homepage. After listening to a few recent stories, interested parties may wish to click on the Free Press Watch section. Here they can use the interactive map to learn about various transgressions committed against members of the press around the world. Also, users shouldn't miss the Blogs area, which contains links to high-quality news blogs from "Persian Letters" (billed as "a window into Iranian politics and society") to the Guardian's "Newsblog